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Computer guides from The Flying Doctor! 99p each!
Passwords and PINs
Discusses how easy it is to break passwords, how to create secure passwords and PIN codes, use of secure password generators and vaults
Sample: “How secure are passwords?
They can be very secure if used properly. Users think they have great passwords, but 91% of people use a password from the top 1,000.
So that reduces the work of an attacker an awful lot.”
Phishing attacks
How to recognise and avoid an attempt to trick you into downloading dangerous stuff or revealing your secrets
Sample: “Check the topic. Many people fall for the ‘someone has sent you a e-card’ message. But isn’t it likely that the sender would be named? Does the topic seem like the sort of thing that this person would send you? Does it ‘feel’ like them in style, etc? Also
common is offering a discount card for a supermarket. Remember the ‘too good to be true’ test!”
Networking computers
Home and small business networks, wired and wireless, security, extending the range.
Sample: “What are IP addresses? These are the actual addresses of all the devices on the network. When you type in a web-site name, it is translated into the IP address and then your web browser connects to it. The main system is IPv4, where your
computer will have a LAN address like 192.168.1.1 and IPv6, which basically gives a whole lot more numbers.”
Backing up
The importance of backups, why sync services aren’t backups, choosing backups or archives, local versus cloud services, free options
Sample: “I’m OK, I use Dropbox, Onedrive, Google drive……. These systems are better than nothing, but are aimed at sharing files between computers. Delete a file from your computer and it goes from everywhere. The same with editing a file - your
mistakes are replicated. So it doesn’t meet my definition of backing up. You need something else.”
